Throughout the country, many states are passing new laws requiring that women seeking an abortion submit to an ultrasound, the rationale being that they should have ALL of the facts before making such a permanent and life altering decision. As a result of seeing their unborn child alive with a beating heart and human form, a significant number of women have second thoughts about destroying it. In my home state of Pennsylvania, similar legislation is under consideration. Of course, pro-abortion advocates are off the wall and proposing all kinds of absurd legislation in retaliation; bills calling for mandatory prostate exams for men with erectile dysfunction to silly legislation that would protect every ovum and sperm cell.
As a person who defends the right to life, but who also supports the Constitution, I'm not 100% sure that mandatory ultrasounds are constitutional. Requiring a woman to undergo a medical procedure sounds a lot like forcing every American to purchase health insurance, something I'm hoping the Supreme Court will rule out by June. I suppose it would depend on how such legislation were worded. I certainly believe every woman should have access to an ultrasound if contemplating an abortion but then there's the question of who would be required to pay for it. Since the abortion clinic stands to make a profit on the abortion, I would think they should have to cover expense of the ultrasound. I do support the spirit of this legislation, because I believe that too many women have been wrongfully convinced that the unborn child is an inanimate mass of cells with no rights and no future unless granted one by its mother. They need to see the truth with their own eyes. For that reason, I would support taxpayer funded ultrasounds if need be.
Of course, this all begs the question as to whether an abortion itself is constitutional. I, for one, believe it is not. I believe abortion on demand violates not only the baby's right to life, it violates his or her due process rights under the fourteenth amendment. More on this subject next time.
